Germans in Australia

[Lynneth]

By now, the Lillian should've learnt one lesson - especially after the battle between the [color="#FFA500"]Guard[/color] and the CS.
If you can see a [color="#FFA500"]Guardsman[/color], chances are he can see you.

Thermal vision was only one of the many vision modes the [color="#FFA500"]Guard[/color] had, though of course the most widely used after normal vision. Seeing the heat signatures of your enemies provides a great advantage, especially if your group has been drilled to be paranoid and look everywhere for enemies - especially from behind. This resulted in one of them spotting an Austrian or two that were following them.
"Spotted. Stalking us. Continue as normal, do not arouse suspicion."
"Acknowledged. Preparing for ambush."
"High building preferable. Plenty in our path."
"Suggesting Mary/Edward street as location."
"Excellent location. Require sharpshooters. Enemy snipers likely."
"Copy."

The "chat" would go on for a short while as the Amber guard neared the junction. They sped up when they got onto the speed, almost running by now. The suits they wore gave them some additional mobility, enabling them to sprint even faster than usually possible.
In the middle of the junction, they suddenly split up. Seven teams, 5 men each. Four buildings, three of them would be "populated" by two teams each within the next thirty seconds. The last only by a single team. Shortly after, they all took up positions within the buildings, near windows and other vantage points, two men in each building guarding the entrance/s. Kill-zones were established in record speed. In two of the buildings, the men with grenade launchers modified their rifles literally on the fly. It was a simple matter of removing certain parts and attaching new ones. Within thirty seconds, their carbines were sharpshooter versions of the GDAR 21; thus, these [color="#FFA500"]Guard[/color] here had suddenly gained the support of four snipers.
Versatility was an important principle of the infantry forces of the GDR. This versatility was provided by the GDAR 21.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

As the Germans moved slowly towards the junction of Edward and Mary, the Lillians who had been positioned at the Railroad Station had been radioed to move south and were bordering the junction nearly about the same time as the Germans arrived as well, in addition to that, the nine Lillians that had been moving from Parliament Square and the Botanic Gardens, Valeria Sangral personally commanding them began to quicken their trek towards the Germans as well. They moved slow, they had to move slow, none of the Lillians knew that had been spotted, but neither did any of them have a clear shot against the opposition. However, given the German's speed, the Lillians could not reach them in time to put up a strong offense before the Germans buckled down. Instead, the Lillians moved to encircle the rest of the German positions at the junction, creating a very large circle that the Lillian snipers could fight back with.

Once again, a battle of cat and mouse would occur and Lillian snipers would have to be on their toes, especially given the amount of German strength in such a large number. They would only move when fully out of sight from the Germans, they would only take shots that were and would be definite hits, and the Sub Machine Gunners kept their eyes focused on the doors of the buildings that the Germans had gone into. They had lost offensive capabilities, but where they may have to make up in offense, they could do so with flexibility and movement.

Edited March 6, 2010 by Sarah Tintagyl

[Lynneth]

This was the time where the Germans were glad their guns had cameras built into them. It enabled them to look around corners without exposing themselves to enemy gunfire, but made it possible to react quickly and fire if hostiles were in sight. Thes used this as much as they could, staying behind cover, carefully edging the gun-cameras outside so they could watch movement, report it and react to it.
Once more a waiting game, but one that the Germans may be able to win in the end. They had a 270° coverage of the streets from any of the four buildings and superior camo capabilites. In addition, they had greater numbers and experience with urban combat, part of their training specialising in it.

Just trying to starve them out wouldn't do.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"Oh goddamn it all." Valeria threw her radio on the ground and sighed looking at the buildings in front of them. The Lillians had surrounded the Germans, but given how entrenched the Germans were around the buildings, it was going to be impossible to evict some thirty soldiers with just the nine Lillians she had with her. This would require much more man power and if possible, the use of greater heavy artillery. Picking up the radio, she called over towards the Lillian positions at Story Bridge in the north, there was an APC there and the bridge itself was commanded by fifteen Lillians in support. Those fifteen would have to be able to hold the bridge without the aid of the APC for a time, while the armor came down to clear the Germans out of their positions at the junction. In the meantime, the Lillians also had two detachments of five girls, at Cemetery Place and Wickham Park, who were ordered to begin marching towards the junction to support Sangral's Guards already engaging the Germans with sniper and sub-machine gun fire. In the course of the engagement, losing one sniper and a sub-machine gunner as well. However, with the added strength coming down from the north, plus the APC. Valeria's strength to engage the Germans would have artillery and an additional ten men to secure the northern flank around the junction.

"And if the armor can't flush them out? We can't starve them out."

"Then we abandon it and try a different plan, we have the entire city to work with, lets not just get bogged down here."

---

Furthermore, near William Jolly Bridge, and Victoria Bridge, the rounds and APC bombardment continued, hitting the Germans on the south shore. Though admittedly, these were mainly blind shots, shots were a dash of color or something strange might have popped up. There was hope that the blind shots would cause some damage. The Lillian strategy was still, hold their side of the river, but with the German's submersible equipment, the technological difference was almost too much to fathom. Needless to say, the Lillians were not about to just lay down and die either. However an offensive movement would be death. So the bombardment continued and there was hopes that the thirty in the junction would be taken out and allowing the Lillians much more room to work with in crossing the river.

In one of the houses looking over one of the German buildings, Valeria fingered her vial of Raging Nostrum and smiled. "Damn Violette, what I would give for one of those suits."

[Lynneth]

Due to sniper-fire, the [color="#FFA500"]Guard[/color] had lost two of their men, who were now out of the game, sitting in corners in the building. they'd be picked up later.

The troops mostly waited, only the sharpshooters occasionally firing a shot, but never sure if it hit. A waiting game, until they heard the low rumble of an armoured vehicle approaching.
"Tank incoming!"
They dove into cover, the men with the MATADOR weapon systems kneeling down out of sight in a side-room or corridor to prepare their weapon. They would try firing from as far up as possible to make it impossible for the vehicle to target them, even if it would make it dangerous due to snipers. In the uppermost parts of their respective buildings, they would creep towards a window, get into cover and wait for their spotters to give signal about the vehicle's location.

Meanwhile, the IFVs at their respective bridges - Victoria and Cook - retreated. That on the Cook bridge would be travelling near the Victoria bridge, where each would pick up 5 men from the defensive line at Willian Jolly bridge. It would take some time, but be done eventually.
Afterwards, they'd creep over Victoria bridge, side by side, each carrying 5 men within.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"Wait a minute." Said Lieutenant Annelle Frassin after she fired her sniper rifle effectively sending one of the Amber Guards out of commission. "They don't need to bombard them directly." Slowly she began to scoot away from the window to avoid being seen by the Germans and crept down the stairs of the building she was in to find Valeria and two of the Lillian Captains looking over a table as reports of the movement of the Germans on the southern bridges began to filter in. Annelle saluted and bowed her head. "Commander, permission to speak."

"Given, what's your report Lieutenant?"

"Don't push the APC any further."

Valeria lifted her head and narrowed her eyes in curiosity. "Why not, its not in an effective range right now. We can bring it closer than that, hell the Germans can barely target it."

"But its enough for them to try and when they move, their spotters to target the APC. We have clear shots, this is the best shots we've had yet."

Valeria thought for a moment and then picked up the radio from her belt. "Nicolette?...Yes...don't move closer, keep the bombardment going on from where you are...I know...but its more effective this way and that's an order so halt your movement." Then the Commander placed the radio back on her belt and looked up at Annelle. "You have your bombardment, bag me some damn Germans."

Annelle nodded and slowly and stealthily returned to her post at the top of the building, at this point, the Lillians began to look for the spotters as best as they could and the bombardment continued with more fury onto the buildings. They might not be able to starve the Germans out, but they could make it costly for the Germans to even move at all.

Meanwhile Captain Sophie Minot, looked through her binoculars at the approaching IFV across Victoria Bridge. She had ten Lillians under her command, three snipers and seven sub machine gunners, all of which were dug in. It was at this point, she felt it best, that since they couldn't target anything, the IFV being alone, they would drop below their trenches, one head sticking out to monitor what was going on. Only the strands of auburn hair from the girl that was doing so, blowing in the wind. There was nothing they could do until the IFV got closer, then possibly, they'd be able to ambush.

"From now on, we need bazookas every where we go."

[Lynneth]

"Tank's stopped. Bombarding."
"Out of range?"
"No. Too risky, though."
"Scouts."
"Likely. Stay in cover, get rid of those coming too close."
"If they keep this up, they'll run out of ammo eventually."
"And if they stop firing?"
"Then we take our chances to find out where that thing is and get someone to fire at it."
"He'll need to aim well."
"Too bad we don't have a Spear."
"IFVs should be equipped with LR versions, up to 7 klicks range."
"Hard to maneuver them in this terrain."
"True. Direct fire preferable."
"Need to wait for a gap in their defense. Too many goddamned snipers."
"Take those out, they're game."
"Find their positions. Wait until they expose themselves, then open fire from at least 4 directions."
A series of "Copy" or "Ten-four"s went through the channel.
They'd thus be on the lookout for hostile sharpshooters and, once having determined their position, waited until they were exposed. Fire would be opened for two seconds from four or more direction, hopefully not enough to let the Australians return fire.
The [color="#FFA500"]Guard[/color] would, after those two seconds, have moves back into their cover.

The effectiveness of this maneuver remained to be seen, and it was likely that it wouldn't work every time.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

The term crap shoot came to mind, or at least it came to Sophie's mind as she tried her hardest to pin down the German snipers in the buildings across from her. Though for every shot she seemed to take, the area around her lit up with bullets and shrapnel, it was a miracle that she hadn't been taken out of the war games yet. The problem was simple, the Amber Guard had anti-tank material, so the APC couldn't really get any closer than a small bombardment, the Germans had caught onto the Lillians plan and instead of focusing on the APC, they turned their attention to the snipers, this is where things got difficult. By this point, the Lillians had about five snipers pounding into the buildings and ten gunners on the lower floors or aiding the snipers as spotters. To make matters worse, there wasn't a limitless supply of ammunition either and so Valeria decided to take a chance.

"Commander are you sure, we're going to suffer a lot of casualties, that might not even work." Said Violette as she looked down at the ground, Valeria was pacing impatiently in front of her.

"And if we stay here we're going to run out of ammunition soon. The problem is, I don't even know if we'll get across the streets in time and even then. Christ they might have defenses already set up." The anger holed up inside of her she threw her fist into a wall. "How do the !@#$%^&* go !@#$@#$ underwater, it screws up the entire match." She shook her head. "Never mind, we've lost five total, correct?"

"Yes Milady."

Valeria took out a [url="http://i569.photobucket.com/albums/ss136/SarahTintagyl/Bris3mvt.gif"]map [/url]from her pocket and looked at the lines across the paper. "Well we can't stay here, but we can't let them roam the city either, we don't have any defense between here and the golf course, but if we try to play offense, we'll get crushed. All right, what I want, is to start withdrawing from the junction, we inflicted enough casualties on them here, we'll let them move again and let them advance and then strike them at another junction. I hate playing like this, but urban warfare, we have to play cat and mouse there isn't any other choice. Tell them to cease fire on the Germans, but keep the spotters active, give them some room to leave the buildings and then if they take the bait, we'll open fire. If not, we'll at least keep them tied up. The Germans have to be moving around other places as well."

"Very good ma'm."

And the fire would stop as the Lillian slowly began to move away from their positions, giving the Germans some breathing room. Valeria only hoped that it would pay off.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Sarah Tintagyl

[Lynneth]

"Enemy retreating."
"Could be a trap. Stay alert."
"Acknowledged. Suggestion that we move from building to building."
"Groups after group. Good idea."
"All into Albert-Edward/Mary-Charlotte block, one group at a time."

The smallest, decimated group would leave their building first and make their way into the building on the western side of the junction. Two men were left in this group, for a total of three losses during the firefight.
Over the next minutes, the other groups would all gather in this building, securing it and their guns overlooking the street. From here, the first group would dash over the street and further down, away from the junction they'd just been fighting over. Slowly, they'd make their was towards the next junction, always having a maximum amount of cover and the greatest possible view of the street.

In the meantime, the IFVs moved to turn themselves into a sort of 'wall', after which two of the [color="#FFA500"]Guards[/color] within each got out. They began doing [i]something[/i], but right now, it was impossible to see what.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

The Lillian strategy at this point was to push the Germans to an area where there much more maneuverability for the girls to act upon, exo-suited soldiers, which vastly superior guns and even the regard that the Raging Nostrum would be useless, made confrontation near impossible, if Valeria was going to win, she had to make the German's play her game and her game at the moment was harassing sniper and small arms fire everywhere the Germans moved. Well at least for the most part. The Germans along Edward Street had the cover of buildings and for the Lillians to actually get in between them to take a shot, would leave the Lillians unguarded and easy pickings after that first volley was fired. Valeria had to conserve her forces strength, so the created what was in fact a large semi-circle around the Germans. The APC retreated down Edward Street, but the Lillian lines were secure, five girls behind, and five girls to the right and left of the German positions, pushing or at least directing them where Valeria wanted them to go. While at the same time, ten Lillians, five from Albert Park, and five from Roma Street Station began to push down from the north, crossing Wickham Park and holding their positions.

Meanwhile, at Victoria Bridge, the Lillian Captain, stared through her binoculars and sighed. "For Hell Sangral thinks that we can actually hold against two IFV's both of the German Armor pieces attacking our one placement."

"You think we can hold Captain?"

"No, but we don't have a choice, at worse thought, we'll have to fall back and regroup. We have to keep casualties low. We have to keep loses low."

[Lynneth]

In time, the Germans would, despite fire from the Lillian, arrive at the Edward/Elizabeth junction, where they set up positions once more, and in a similar manner to the first time they were forced to hole in against the Lillian. Just like then, they're use countersnipers to get rid of Lillian sharpshooters, while the always present MATADOR systems would hopefully stop the Lillian from using their APC.

In the meantime, the troops at Victoria Bridge finished whatever they were doing. They got back into the APCs which then retreated back to German lines. Once they were out of sight of the Lillians, one of them pressed a button.
Which was followed by a series of earth-shattering explosions rocking the Victoria bridge. These weren't any of the fake-explosions by the ammo of their IFVs or the MADATORs. They were actual high-explosives, best used against buildings and constructions. The construction in question being the Victoria Bridge, which currently was in the process of losing an entire bridge-segment between its two sturdy pillars, making it impossible to cross it, even with the help of field engineers.

Ten minutes later, the APCs would appear at the Merivale bridge, a railway bridge. Crossing [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Merivale_bridge_network.jpg"]halfway[/url] over it, to the part above the river, the APCs arranged in a 'wall' once more to protect the [color="#FFA500"]Guard[/color]'s combat engineers working here.

[Lynneth]

OOC: Well, with Sarah being Aquitaine now, what shall we do with this thread?

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: Good question. Let's talk to her the next time we see her on IRC and see if she's at least willing to finish this part. If not, then we'll see from there...